October 19, 2010 (Nehemiah 1-5)

I guess it's just where I am in my reading, but over and over when God's people were in distress they fasted and prayed. And in Nehemiah's prayer, he reminded God of His promises and begged Him to listen to their prayers.

1:4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said,

“O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! 7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
8 “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. 9 But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
10 “The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. 11 O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”

When the king asked Nehemiah a question, before he replied here is what he did:

2:4 The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?”

With a prayer to the God of heaven, 5 I replied,


And then when the king answered him favorably, he gave the credit to God:

2:8b And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.

When opposition came up, here is how he replied:

2:20 I replied, “The God of heaven will help us succeed. We, his servants, will start rebuilding this wall. But you have no share, legal right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”

And then when there was more opposition, here was his prayer:

4:4 Then I prayed, “Hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land! 5 Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.”

But they not only prayed, they worked:

4:9 But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.

And when things still didn't look good, he encouraged the people to remember the Lord:

4:14 Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”

May God give us the grace to respond in these ways - always looking to Him to provide and always showing our dependance by our prayers.